Logistics have all come together for the first Worcester Running Festival, which next Sunday (June 15) brings the return of the annual half marathon to downtown after a year's absence.

Race director Charlie Breagy has been dotting the i's and crossing the t's, finalizing police coverage, course markings, volunteer help ... and of course with this being a mid-June event, making sure there's enough hydration for a field that is hoped to exceed 1,000.

"You never run out of water," said Breagy, who always keeps at least 1,000 extra bottles of H20 in his van with Rhode Island plates. "If you run out of water, there's no excuse. You just have to have it."

Breagy, who founded the popular Tour de Patrick series and forged three thriving city road races into the Tour de Worcester, has been carefully planning the Worcester Running Festival for more than a year. He's avoiding the pitfalls of the Worcester Half Marathon that started and ended at the Common from 2010-12, before the city ended its relationship with Dean Reinke.

For the past two years, Reinke has conducted the Worcester County Half Marathon out of Doyle Field in Leominster as part of his USRA Half Marathon Series. This year's event took place last Sunday.

And according to Breagy, confusion with Reinke's event has affected advance registrations for the Running Festival, as the websites have similar addresses.

"We want to show the runners that the effort has been made and that the race director cares about the runners," said Breagy, who has hired about 50 Worcester policemen and has another 50 volunteer marshals lining the course.

Early last week, entries were at about 800, and Breagy is hoping for a push this final week to get the registrations into quadruple figures — a benchmark many successful city races have reached in recent years. "This week is crucial," he said.

"The biggest challenge was to get the right course, and we feel it's not a difficult course, with just one little hill," he added. The 13.1-mile route is coned all along the way, and Breagy says signs will be many along the route.

There will be eight refreshment stations along the route, with water and Gatorade, and one distributing energy gel. Through Facebook and other social media approaches, Breagy has recruited groups and organizations to develop a hearty legion of volunteers, about 150 of them.

"I'm very comfortable with the groups we have gotten involved to help," he said. "Now we're just in the education phase, going over assignments with the volunteers, having them be at a certain place at a certain time, et cetera. It's best to work with groups, and working with group leaders."

Current road construction around the Common aside, the start and finish of the half marathon will be clean on Front Street. "It will definitely be possible to start the race," said Breagy, who noted the start/finish line is within 100 yards on Main Street while much of the construction is at the corner of Commercial Street. "Next year, it will be beautiful."

All three events at the Running Festival have title sponsors — the National Grid Half Marathon, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care 5K Run/Walk and the Bay State Savings Bank Youth 1K.

"The thing that is amazing me is the sponsors — they're all cooperative, working together," Breagy said, noting such cooperation hasn't always been the case at his events. "All these people grew up in Worcester and care about Worcester."

The half marathon goes off at 7 a.m., hopefully beating any heat, followed by the 5K at 7:15 and the youth race at 9:30.

Race number and T-shirt pickup begins the day before, June 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the National Grid Sustainability Hub at 912 Main St., Worcester. It continues on race day at the Common, beginning at 6 a.m. until 15 minutes before the start of the race.

Technical shirts are available to the first 1,000 entrants, and medals will be awarded to each half marathon finisher. For more information, visit www.runworcester.com.

"This is the best shot at giving Worcester a great half marathon," Breagy said. "A lot of people in the city want to see Worcester live it up."

Rivals team up to raise money

Again, a large group of student-athletes for North County will cross the lines that create their high school rivalries and team up in their efforts against cancer.

Students from seven high schools — Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Lunenburg, Monty Tech, Murdock and Narragansett Regional — will run an Olympic-style torch relay from school to school as a part of the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life of Greater Gardner.

More than 175 students from a variety of athletic teams will run legs ranging from a half mile to 13 miles, beginning at 2 p.m. June 13 from Leominster and Lunenburg high schools. The relay units will unite to light a ceremonial torch in Gardner. The relay finishes at Heywood Hospital, where the torch is expected to arrive at 5:30.

The torches were constructed by Monty Tech students, and the participants' T-shirts were donated by Northeast Promotions and Apparel of Leominster. This run has given students the opportunity to collect donations in memory of loved ones lost to cancer.

The idea for this Relay for Life torch run came from longtime volunteer and Leominster resident Paul Cannavino and is becoming a highlight of the weekend event in Gardner.

For more information about the torch run and the Relay for Life of Greater Gardner, visit www.relayforlife.org.

6:30 p.m. June 17 — North Medford Club Racing Series, 4 miles on dirt roads and trails, Lake Dennison, Baldwinville. Entry fees: $3 for North Medford Club members wanting a prize, free for members not wanting a prize, $5 for non-NMC members. Info: (508) 380-6268.